


more time

by nsofties



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, High School, M/M, Mentioned Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Mentioned Kim Mingyu, Mentioned Seo Youngho | Johnny, Road Trips, Underage Drinking, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 08:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18339782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nsofties/pseuds/nsofties
Summary: Doyoung is leaving in two months and all Jaehyun wants is more time.





	more time

**Author's Note:**

> based on [this](https://twitter.com/nsofties/status/1113268320613150721) twitter thread.  
> i wrote it in one-ish day. Just a cute lil’ dojae.  
> not beta'd, not proof-read, not edited.

 

The road trip is freeing - an abandonment of all responsibilities they hold back in their hometown. It feels something akin to coming of age. But, Doyoung’s off to college in two months and Jaehyun isn’t actually sure when he’s gonna see him next. He promises that he’ll come back as often as possible, but Johnny had said the same thing and he hasn’t been home for longer than a day the past two years.

Jaehyun wants to trust Doyoung, but there’s this nagging feeling in the back of his head, a seed of doubt planted in his chest. Doyoung is his best friend. Not his only friend, but the friend who knows him best. Knows all his secrets, all his truths and lies and dreams. If he’s gone, too, then Jaehyun might as well throw all cares to the wind. He suggested the road trip for the both of them - to ease the growing uncertainty in his chest and spend as much time with Doyoung as possible, make as many memories as they can.

And, maybe, because after sixteen years of friendship, Jaehyun has finally come to the world-rocking conclusion that he’s in love with Doyoung. The road trip is a last ditch effort - an opportunity to spend more time with the man he’s realized that he’s in love with. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, but falling in love with Doyoung came slowly and naturally, nurtured for seventeen long years.

Doyoung is leaving in two months and all Jaehyun wants is more time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s weird, sitting in the passenger seat and pretending to be asleep when Doyoung’s on the phone with his mom. It’s not like they haven’t been in this position before, but Jaehyun likes sitting in the seat, eyes closed, listening to the lilt of Doyoung’s voice - his hums of affirmation as his mother’s voice gently floats over from the receiver.

“Yes, mom, we stopped to rest. No, we haven’t run into any issues. Yes, Jaehyun is safe.”

He listens to the fondness is his voice as he reassures her that everything is okay and they’re successfully reaching their destinations, not that they have any to begin with. It’s just this blind journey, following a general direction. Not particularly something Doyoung would ever do, but he’s always had a soft spot for Jaehyun and his antics.

Jaehyun or Doyoung points to a town going west and they drive for hours, playing the same CD that Doyoung burned when they were fourteen and Doyoung still played basketball and thought it would be fun to make CDs for the car rides home from practice when one of their parents picked them up.

It’s one in the morning when they finally open the door, eyeing the motel room with relief. Jaehyun immediately curls up into bed while Doyoung disappears into the bathroom, the sound of water eventually traveling out the cracked door. They’re used to it at this point - one bed for them both. At first it had scared Jaehyun, set him on edge, until Doyoung had smiled and said, “It’s like when we were kids and you’d stay over when your parents went out. We’d watch the Lion King over and over. The only movie you’d ever watch even though it made you cry.”

Jaehyun feels his heart constrict in his chest as he laughed. What he wouldn’t give to go back. They talk until their voices turn into whispers into mumbles into silence. The sound of the air conditioning providing white noise until they finally fall asleep. They wake up every time with Doyoung’s arm around him, Jaehyun curled into his chest. It feels safe, but they never say anything about it. Doyoung just smiles at him as he wakes him up.  
“We should leave soon,” he always says with the gentlest voice.

Jaehyun is jealous of whoever is going to get to spend the rest of their life with Doyoung. They’re the luckiest human in the universe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re young and they’re stupid, but not that stupid. There’s no alcohol, so he’s not really sure how they got here - stargazing on the caravan roof transitioning from making up constellations to making out. It’s not exactly the first time they had kissed - they were dared to one time and Doyoung had shrugged and gently pressed his lips to Jaehyun’s like it was no big deal even though Jaehyun swore everyone could hear the hammering in his chest.

The smile that Doyoung had sent him after that had been everything. Is still everything. Except for this moment right here. He leans his weight on one hand, other resting lazily on Doyoung’s hip as the older boy gently runs his fingers through his hair the way he knows Jaehyun likes it.

He relishes in it - the feeling of their lips sliding together, the rush of needing to catch their breath, the lazy nature of it all. Sometimes their teeth knock together, but they keep going anyways, sometimes interjecting with soft giggles and half-open eyes. Doyoung tastes like the lip balm that Jaehyun had given him the other day - tangerine. He sighs and feels the way that Doyoung smiles into the kiss.

Jaehyun thought that this would be weird - that it would feel forced or unnatural or scary but it doesn’t. Nothing ever does with Doyoung. It’s like Jaehyun’s supposed to be in love with Doyoung - head over heels, intoxicated by his smile, his voice, his touch.

Doyoung pulls back to take a breath and rests his head on Jaehyun’s shoulder before the two start laughing together. Nothing is funny. They’re just drunk in one another’s company.

Jaehyun just wants a little more time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Jaehyun knows it, they’re turning around to go back home.

He wishes they didn’t have to - that they could stay exploring the country. But they don’t have the money or freedom, and whenever Doyoung talks about studying the works of authors that put Jaehyun to sleep in literature, he gets this light in his eyes and his breath hitches as he sits straighter and Jaehyun doesn’t dare take away from him.

Doyoung drops Jaehyun off at his house, waving with his usual smile and backing out of the driveway. After that, summer days are spent alternating between volunteering as a youth basketball coach, and helping Doyoung pack for his move.

His university is halfway across the country, nestled in some bustling midwest city. Jaehyun wants to follow him there, but none of the colleges scouting him are out there. They’re nearer or farther, but not _there_. Jaehyun updates his profile with clips from games hoping that they’ll notice him - that they can toss him a decent scholarship. He’d be happy anywhere that he can play basketball and study numbers. He’s going to fill out the application anyway and hopes that maybe they’ll contact him about playing.

But Jaehyun needs that scholarship.

Doyoung, does, too. It’s the whole reason he’s attending that university all the way out there - he’s lucky he loved the campus. Maybe he’s blinded by the merit scholarship and other grants that gives him a full-ride for all four years. Maybe he doesn’t care. Jaehyun wishes the universities closer to home would’ve seen his potential the same way.

The way Doyoung has spoken about the university makes Jaehyun yearn for its huge, sprawling campus. Doyoung tells him to choose where he feels happiest and then they laugh this deeply bitter laugh because they know that it’ll come down to money, anyways, as shitty as that is.

As he helps Doyoung pack things, he notices a small box that sits on his bed. They had just woken up, still not used to sleeping alone after the roadtrip.

“Desk stuff?”

“Yeah, you know. Like, pens and books and pictures.”

“What pictures?”

“That one - of me, you, and Johnny at his family’s summer barbecue. And that one of us at my graduation. One of me and my brother. One of my family. Your school photo from last year.” There’s a lot of emotion at the brief mention of Johnny, but it’s immediately gone as Doyoung plows forward, describing the photos that are neatly tucked into frames, placed with care in the box.

“My school photo?”

“Yeah - the one you gave me when your mom bought that huge pack and there were just too many photos to hang around the house. I still have the wallet one, too. I carry it around everywhere.”

Jaehyun smiles as he looks at the pictures in the box as Doyoung talks before he whips his head to look at Doyoung so fast his neck cracks. His eyes are wide and he can feel them starting to tear up from not blinking. “You still carry _my photo_ in your wallet?” he asks incredulously.

“Of course. It’d be sacrilege not to.” Doyoung says it as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world and Jaehyun feels his stomach twist into knots over and over and over until he feels like he’ll never be able to eat again.

“Right.” Jaehyun punctuates it with a nervous laugh that Doyoung ignores, instead choosing to fold more clothes, packing them into a giant tupperware container. The silences that fall between them are always comfortable, always just right. Jaehyun will miss this. Already misses it.

Jaehyun needs more time - just a day. Two weeks aren’t enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaehyun sulks when Doyoung leaves. He cries - a lot - and then spends the last few days of his summer with nothing to do. So he sulks. Normally he’d be getting ice cream at the local parlor with Doyoung, or they’d have one last attempt at bingeing a show Ten recommended, no matter how shitty.

Driving to school without Doyoung excitedly chattering about his morning is weird. What used to be repetitive and borderline annoying is now something he regrets taking for granted. He gets a text message before he leaves, though - right around the time Doyoung would pick him up. _Happy last first day of high school! Enjoy it while it lasts!_ it reads.

Jaehyun doesn’t know how to reply so he sends back a half-hearted, _Thanks! It’s not the same without you_.

He thinks back to the way he kissed Doyoung the night he left - frantic and trying to say everything he could before it was all gone. Doyoung never gave back the lip balm and he still tasted like tangerines. They didn’t giggle the way they usually did. It had become normal, kissing and talking until the sun rose and then sleeping in until noon. They didn’t have the luxury of sleeping until noon the next morning, but they still spent the night alternating between sharing stupid memories and kissing until they couldn’t breathe.

He wishes the summer never ended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaehyun misses him. Feels his heart hurt a little at the thought of Doyoung being so far away. He knows he’ll be happy out there, though, so he stops telling Doyoung he misses him on Halloween. He had told him once a week, _I miss you_ , on the phone or through a text. And Doyoung had always said he missed him, too. Jaehyun knows he didn’t miss him the same way, but let his heart flutter at the words anyways.

“Trick or treat,” Jaehyun mumbles to no one in particular, Halloweentown on the television screen. He thinks about how last year he and Doyoung had made shitty Halloween-themed snacks and watched the Twilight Zone until they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

Doyoung doesn’t text him that night.

To be more specific, Doyoung texts him early the next morning, a slew of barely-decipherable words. Jaehyun thinks that he’d have a harder time understanding what the messages said if Doyoung wasn’t his best friend and if he didn’t know him like the back of his hand.

 

 **doie**  
Misthuoju. Miosssyuo a loopttttt :(  
[1:12 AM]  
  
**Me**  
Is mister VP drunk? Yikes. What happened to following the rules, Doyo?  
[1:14 AM]  
  
**doie**  
Mmmmmmmmm  
Isk  
[1:20 AM]  
  
**Me**  
Is there anyone with you? Are you drinking water?  
[1:23 AM]  
  
**doie**  
Nes  
[1:26 AM]

 

Jaehyun is pondering what _Nes_ means - yes and no? No and yes? Is there a paticular order? - and about to text Doyoung to go home when his phone buzzes again - a call, this time.

“Doyoung?”

There’s no answer, the only sound of Doyoung’s soft breathing. When he finally speaks, Jaehyun thinks that he sounds a lot more coherent than when he types.

“Hyunie.”

“Are you home?”

“Yeah! Yeah.” There’s a long pause and Jaehyun hears shuffling in the background. “M’roommate, Kun. He’s here.”

Jaehyun recognizes the name and sighs in relief. “Good. Good, you know? It’s also one in the morning. Or, almost two. You should sleep. Or, try to, anyways.”

“Can’t.” His voice is the high-pitched whine that comes whenever Doyoung is feeling particularly jaded. It comes far and few between, but you hear it a lot when you know him for sixteen years. “You’re not here.”

Jaehyun groans and buries his face in his arm. “Please don’t give Kun trouble.”

“Can you come visit?”

“You know I can’t. I have practice. And school. I can’t just ditch it. I want to, though. I want to come visit really badly.” It’s moments like this that Jaehyun tricks himself into believing that Doyoung loves him, too. “Go to bed, Doyo.”

“Can you stay on the phone ‘til I sleep?”

“Yeah.”

Jaehyun feels like he’s been given a little more time. He’ll take what he can get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Jaehyun knows it, Christmas is around the corner. Christmas is nice, family is nice, time off is nice. But, what’s even nicer, is Doyoung being home. It’s the reason he races out of the locker room after practice, hair still stuck to his forehead as he bursts out the door to the parking lot. There, sitting in the driver’s seat, eyes glued to his phone, is Doyoung, face illuminated from the light of the screen.

Jaehyun waits until he looks up to wave. Doyoung’s lips are set in a firm line as he unlocks the doors, Jaehyun sliding into the familiar passenger seat with a bright smile.

“It’s ten below, Jaehyun. Why are didn’t you _change_?”

In reply, he leans forward and kisses Doyoung, who gives in with a sigh. “I knew you were waiting,” he replies with a goofy smile. Pulling back, he buckles in and laces their fingers when Doyoung pulls out of the parking lot. They pass by Mingyu and he waves to his friend who offers a knowing smile.

Doyoung lounges on his bed as he showers, washing the grime and sweat off his body from practice. On the bathroom counter his screen lights up and, when he sees the email, he imagines playing under the bright lights of a midwest university’s basketball court.

Time is nice, he thinks. And, now, for the first time in a long time, he feels like he has all the time in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaehyun kisses Doyoung who frowns at him, giving him _the look_. Doyoung still tastes like tangerines and Jaehyun hopes that he never stops. His textbook sits precariously on the arm of Doyoung’s couch and a television show neither of them care about is background noise.

“Don’t you have a linear algebra assignment due in an hour?”

“I can’t kiss my boyfriend _and_ do linear algebra?”

“No.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me here:  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/nsofties)  
> [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/nsofties)


End file.
